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Westward expansion in the 1800s
Westward expansion in the 1800s
Westward expansion in the 1800s
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In their historical account of the American West, Robert Hine and John Mack Faragher suggest that the American Frontier:
Tells a story of the creation and defense of communities, the utilization of the land, the development of markets, and the formation of states. It is filled with unexpected twists and turns. It is a tale of conquest, but also one of survival and persistence, and of the merging of peoples and cultures that gave birth and continuing life to America as we think of and experience it today (page 5).
The enduring cultural expressions of the frontier were adapted into unique narrative traditions known as the “Western”. The Western genre portrays a story of conquest, competing visions of the land, and the quintessential American frontier hero who is usually a gunfighter or a cowboy. These Western archetypes can be observed in, The Outlaw Josey Wales, a film that employs revenge motifs that lead into and extended chase across the West and touches on the social and cultural issues of the American frontier.
The film is set during and after the American Civil War (1861-65). One of conflicts between the Northern states, the union, and the Southern states was how to proceed in the federal territories of the West. According to Mathew C. Hulbert, in his article titled Texas Bound and Down, this film “clearly captures how Civil War memory and film overlap; the ways in which the war is remembered, represented, and continues to influence the lives of men and women more than a century-and-a-half after its conclusion” (Hulbert). The Civil War drastically changed the social landscape of Missouri, and this is evident through what is observed in the film. The Outlaw Josey Wales shows the effects of the war on Missouri. According to Ge...
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...s than one. It reveals a larger issue at hand between the “white man” and the Indians. This is a common theme portrayed in Westerns—conflicting views of the land. When Watie talks to Josey about how the white man has deamed him “civilized” he expresses a great deal of shame. Watie goes on to talk about how he not only lost his family to the Union but also his pride and his heritage. He talks about being out of touch with his culture because he was forced off of his land and onto the land set-aside for his people by the Union. Watie admires Josey for his bravery, or edge as he calls it. There is a sense of honor and pride that Josey arries with him as he is determined to redeem what was lost. This gives Watie the drive to join Josey and redeem what was taken from him. Both of these men have something worth fighting and dying for and that’s what brings them together.
The Wild West is also referred to as the American frontier due to the numerous
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-present. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.
Lyon, Peter. The wild, Wild West; for the discriminating reader. New York, Funk and Wagnalls, 1969.
Sherman Alexie’s character’s often struggle to release themselves from the stereotypes that have been forced upon them. The narrators of these stories all become the Indian that the white man wants them to be in order to tell their stories. This can leave the readers with a sense of discomfort, which is exactly what Alexie wants to do. He wants the reader to feel uncomfortable with these stereotypes so that they know there is something wrong with attaching a group of people to certain standards like that their all alcoholics, live on reservations, and spiritual. He pushes this feeling of discomfort onto his readers to make them aware of social injustice and immorality towards Native Americans and much of this discomfort is projected through the use of dark humor, cultural assimilation, and ceremony.
Clint Eastwood’s film Unforgiven is often called a “new” or “revisionist” Western because it is part of a group of films that revitalized the Western genre in the early nineties and because it provides a narrative about the Western within its storyline. Previou s Western films focused on the story of the lone outlaw while he seeks revenge for the wrongs done to him and for his version of the American Dream. They fall right into the stereotype of the Western in many ways: fantastic gun skills, revenge quests, Indian fights, and lowly Mexicans. The surface narrative of Unforgiven almost follows the storyline one would expect from a Western film. An infamous but retired outlaw gets back with his partner to uphold the honor of a woman, albeit a whore, while also battling internal conflicts. In the end, justice is served, the bad
The American western frontier, still arguably existent today, has presented a standard of living and characteristics which, for a time, where all its own. Several authors of various works regarding these characteristics and the obvious border set up along the western and eastern sections have discussed their opinions of the west. In addition to these literary works by renowned authors, one rather convenient cinematic reference has also been influenced by these well-known, well-discussed practices of this American frontier. “True Grit”, a film recently remade in 2010 by the Cohen Brothers, crosses the boundaries of the west allowing all movie-goers to capture one idea of the western world. The movie, along with a few scholarly sources which will also be discussed offer a more ideal glimpse into the past of the western lands. The true nature of the west, both refuted and supported, is characterized well through the author’s dictation as well as the Hollywood interpretation introducing the land’s distinction between savagery vs. civilization, law vs. chaos, and loyalty vs. independence.
Over the years, the idea of the western frontier of American history has been unjustly and falsely romanticized by the movie, novel, and television industries. People now believe the west to have been populated by gun-slinging cowboys wearing ten gallon hats who rode off on capricious, idealistic adventures. Not only is this perception of the west far from the truth, but no mention of the atrocities of Indian massacre, avarice, and ill-advised, often deceptive, government programs is even present in the average citizen’s understanding of the frontier. This misunderstanding of the west is epitomized by the statement, “Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis was as real as the myth of the west. The development of the west was, in fact, A Century of Dishonor.” The frontier thesis, which Turner proposed in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition, viewed the frontier as the sole preserver of the American psyche of democracy and republicanism by compelling Americans to conquer and to settle new areas. This thesis gives a somewhat quixotic explanation of expansion, as opposed to Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, A Century of Dishonor, which truly portrays the settlement of the west as a pattern of cruelty and conceit. Thus, the frontier thesis, offered first in The Significance of the Frontier in American History, is, in fact, false, like the myth of the west. Many historians, however, have attempted to debunk the mythology of the west. Specifically, these historians have refuted the common beliefs that cattle ranging was accepted as legal by the government, that the said business was profitable, that cattle herders were completely independent from any outside influence, and that anyone could become a cattle herder.
Anderson, Mark Cronlund. Cowboy Imperialism and Hollywood Film. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Limited, 2007.
Jack Schaeffer’s, Shane, is the perfect embodiment of the Western formula used to create films about the Wild, Wild West. The text has all the necessary elements to create the perfect Western movie. The first component of the formula is a threat to the community that just moved out west, whether it is Indians, other ranchers, or even nature itself. The second component is lack of defense from the community, due to the homesteaders not being able to protect themselves against the threat posed upon them. The third component is the presence of a hero, a single entity that has the skills of the community’s threat, but in turn uses those to help the community. Shane is the ideal film created from the western formula, consisting of a threat, a lack of defense, and a hero.
The Wild West is romanticized by many, despite the horrors people encountered and the lack of law it was home to people who wanted to settle away from city life. The West was home to many gang and bandits such as Butch Cassidy, Jesse James, and specifically, Billy the Kid. Billy the Kid is famous for being one of the most notorious outlaws of New Mexico and fought in the infamous gang war The Lincoln County War. In Robert M. Utley’s book, Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life, Utley describes the young gunslinger’s life upbringings, how his actions affected people and his untimely death, and an overall response to Utley’s work.
A foray into nostalgic childhood memories reveal narratives that have saturated America’s culture for decades: A good man in a white hat and a bad man in a black one, lonely days on the open range with only a horse and the imminent threat of an Injun attack for company. The mythos of the wild, wild west is truly a cultural obsession. Perhaps it is the stunning western scenery, the rugged, independent masculinity, or the clear division of morality that makes wild west narratives so enchanting to America. Whatever, the reason, this mythos seems to be preferable to the real story of the American west: death and disease, oppression and colonization, and the genocide of the native population. America would clearly rather hear about the rugged man
Turner and Buffalo Bill both showed American westering as a tale of conquest, of either nature or Indians, but triumph in the face of difficult odds nonetheless. They also used similar iconography that was already popular in American culture at the time to draw their audiences in. Covered wagons and log cabins were set pieces in Buffalo Bill’s dramatizations, familiar pieces of American history that resonated with audiences who longed to see the simpler side of life actually come to life. In Turner’s writings, those same covered wagons and log cabins were nostalgic and romantic depictions of the lives westward pioneers were building in the free lands. Through these icons, Turner and Buffalo Bill rooted the value of exploration of new lands and hard work even further into American cultural ideals that they were before. The Frontier was, according to them, the essential American experience and many people agreed. But this American experience could not last forever and both men mourned the closing of the Frontier as a serious loss to American culture and development. For the West, so celebrated for its freedom and wildness, to be contained by the rigid lines of city life was a blow to the development of American culture in their minds. Structured primarily by their own ideas of masculinity, the rougher terrains and hardships of settling land were preferred and the containment and refinement were in a ways emasculating.
Because of the outlaw hero’s definitive elements, society more so identifies with this myth. Ray said, “…the scarcity of mature heroes in American...
The West was a great era and all, but it is often mythologized. People think that cowboys were romantic, all white, could make a fortune in the west, and western towns were lawless. To tell you the truth, it’s the very opposite. Cowboys were poor, not everyone was white, there were harsh conditions. There was more than just fighting, whites, and men.
When one thinks of the United States of America, they probably consider our history, our culture, our media, our impressive cities and the extremely wide variety of beautiful wildernesses that we are lucky enough to still enjoy. We are lucky enough to have a melting pot of cultures in this country, and many different kinds of people. However, when thinking of an original, all-American figure, cowboys come to mind for many people. Our history and the settlement of the U.S. was unlike any other country, and the development of the country in the more western states came with the unique and fascinating time period referred to now as “The Old West”. The Old West was a crucial time in American history, and though it was a simpler time it also came with its share of excitement. Some of the most memorable details about the Old West were the characters that came with it, and some extremely interesting ones were the least conforming- the outlaws. Jesse Woodson James was one of the most notorious outlaws in American history. His name would go down in history as one belonging to a tough as nails and fearless bank robber who led a group of outlaws across the mid-west robbing banks and trains, and even murdering people. When we look at the big picture of what the U.S. has become today, The Old West certainly has had a large impact on our culture, and Jesse James certainly had a large impact on the Old West. Though most would argue that he was not a decent or moral person, one cannot argue that he was still a very interesting and unique icon of the west. So how did Jesse Woodson James change and leave his mark on the United St...